After a few days, everything seemed to get back to normal. Harold departed for the office every day, as was his custom, and came back suitably exhausted after a hard day, as he described it, to be remedied by a relaxing bath, followed by a strong drink and a liberal helping of his favourite dish, steak and kidney pie. Even the inspector gave up insisting on his sergeant staying the night as an added precaution.
It was not until the following Monday, when that routine was interrupted. Gone was the expected sound of his key in the latch, denoting his return, and by eight o’clock even Rose was concerned that his steak and kidney pie had gone cold, despite repeated warm-ups.
Feeling alarmed at his absence, Robert reported his misgivings to the police, and then to the inspector, and within ha
